By Justine Hemmestad
Since the Super Bowl halftime show aired, I’ve not only learned what a brilliant artist Kendrick Lamar is - but also that he’s a PULITZER PRIZE winning artist.
Hearing what he says in previous interviews is jaw-dropping too - truly, this man’s brilliance puts Hemingway in his place.
When I learned about the story Lamar tells in his album DAMN, I knew he deserved that Pulitzer Prize (The album was praised for its “vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism”).
Lamar’s play on characters and narrative personae truly tells a story.
In his song “Yah,” he says, “I’m a Israelite, don’t call me black no mo’ / That word is only a color, it ain’t facts no mo’.” Remember the key word, authenticity.
Jacob Dorman, author of Chosen People: The Rise of American Black Israelite Religions, says that the term “Black Hebrew Israelite” does not describe a religion, but a philosophy of history that says ancient Israelites were Black and contemporary Black people are their descendants.
One of my daughters and her boyfriend further explained the issue he has with Drake - but I dug deeper.
The conclusion I’ve come to, within the music and the dissing, is that it goes beyond the things Drake has done, but who he is - and who he is is offensive to Lamar because no matter who Drake portrays himself to be - it's not authentic.
He doesn’t believe Drake’s adherence to black culture is genuine, nor does he believe anything about Drake is genuine - which brings us to Drake as Jewish (his mother is a Canadian Ashkenazi Jew) and Lamar as a Black Hebrew Israelite.
In a 2010 interview, Katie Couric asked Drake, “What’s a nice Jewish boy doing in a career like this?” I don't think his Jewishness is in doubt, but it’s the culture he portrays.
In the 1970s, the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten hated The Clash’s Joe Strummer because Rotten thought Strummer was inauthentic - why? Because Joe Strummer didn’t really grow up in a struggling working class family though he sang about it (working class was the persona he clung to, emulating Rotten’s working class persona), but amid affluence. Strummer was not authentic (even though undeniably talented).
This mattered because if he was inauthentic in one thing, Rotten believed the music wasn’t authentic as well. Rotten repeatedly dissed Strummer for inauthenticity.
Times really haven’t changed, but maybe the end result has. Calling Drake a “colonizer” in the lyrics (which may seem anti semitic on the surface) was another way of drawing attention to his inauthenticity through the sensitivity of his beliefs, to push Drake’s buttons - knowing that pushing his button may cause him to self-destruct.
Lamar’s belief that Drake isn’t authentic reaches into Drake’s Jewishness - Lamar isn’t just saying that he’s the best rapper, but also the most authentic Jew, or Israelite.
Notably, this is just my take on it - I’m not versed well enough in Black Hebrew Israelism - but I’m pointing out Lamar’s reverence for authenticity.
The American Jewish Committee reports that Black Hebrews urged Americans to halt all aid to Israel and boycott Jewish-owned businesses and Jewish political candidates. They additionally called on Black churches to cut off ties with Israel and not to travel to Israel.
INTERESTING…now we may be getting somewhere…
But how is one to truly know what is authentic? It takes research and diligence. Uncovering the facts, not the projections that serve someone’s interests.
And just like I dug deeper into Lamar, I dug deeper into the funding of American Universities - though they very publicly seem to take an authentic stance, they’re blind to what they should be well-versed on.
This is another battlefront that Israel must fight on - and the media war is, at its core, with Qatar. The Nameless One’s friend, also a tour guide, explains this clearly to his subscribers in a video.
Most people, he says, are not aware that in this second, more subdued war, Qatar’s money buys influence.
Authentically, a Muslim extremist/advocate of the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas) runs Qatar - Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani - by Sharia law.
Though Qatar projects a clean money system to the world, it is really a legal system like Afghanistan and Yemen - which means no free speech, no equality, and no gay rights. There is no tolerance for anything other than straight, boy or girl genders; minorities suffer there, though American students are blinded to all of that.
In fact, “Minorities struggle to live safely in all muslim countries.”
Any criticism of the government is a threat and is quickly subdued.
Qatar’s threat against Israel is subtle, via media, academia, and terrorist organizations, though deeply encouraged since most of the Muslim world hates Israel (Iran is the most public about its hatred, much like Hamas and Hezbollah).
Al Jazeera, the news outlet, serves Qatar’s interests in this way by running headlines against Israel - and sometimes America. This media speaks in the language, and ideals, of the audience they’re trying to reach in order to deliver their message of antisemitism.
Al Jazeera’s media reports project how much Palestinians suffer in order to stir world anger against Israel, but they do not report the Palestinians who break away from Hamas and are killed in Gaza.
They haven’t been reporting on the Civil War in Yemen (which the West has no hand in and therefore can't be blamed), even though the death tolls are greater. It would distort from their narrative.
Some of Al Jazeera’s reporters themselves are known terrorists - at least 6 Al Jazeera reporters were part of the attack on Israel on October 7.
Al Jazeera + caters to young Americans, projecting a strong anti-Israeli, anti-American message with the goal of igniting hatred of the youth of America against Israel.
One of the ways they accomplish their goal of controlling the narrative in order to undermine Western values is by donating to the institutions they wish to influence, thereby driving the numerous American university protests. Qatar wants to steer progressive students nearer to Islamic ideology.
Over the last 20 years, Qatar has donated $5 billion to American Universities which in turn bought them this support they sought. With such support, comes power and influence.
Moreover, the Universities never reported the donations to the United States government as they should have, since the donation was from a foreign entity.
Israel’s war has also been felt on the BDS front: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, which is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel.
Dakota Johnson’s Saturday Night Live skit, where she portrays a young college student who parts from her dad to get in a truck with ISIS, is more real than its young audience may be aware of.
When the father tells one of the ISIS members to “take care of her,” the ISIS member replies, “Death to America.”
As the truck drives away, a voice-over assures the dad: “ISIS: We’ll take it from here, Dad.”
But something that is meant to be covert, can also be recognized if we dig deeper.
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